Research question ; Where is the best place to open coffee shop in Osaka, Japan?
Forsqure API
As we learned it during this module, I used Forsqure location data via API.
Address
the list of Osaka neighborhoods are required. It is available in open data base. [http://jusyo.jp/csv/new.php] This website provides all Japanese address with postal codes, and files are zipped for each prefecture.(Sorry, only Japanese are available!) I took only Osaka address using wget command.
Geocoding
To get coordinates, I used geocoorder API. It allows to get all latitude and longitude for given address.(Again, addresses are written in Japanese, sorry!) This reference helped me to use the API.
All venues are categorized in forsqure data. In Osaka data set, there are 199 unique categories.
Most common category is convenience store, which is open 7/24 and sell everything we need in daily life, like food, snacks, magazine, toiletry and so on.
The second common category is ‘Japanese Curry Restaurant’, which is not traditional style compared with ‘Ramen’ or ‘Takoyaki’ as Japanese ‘fast food’, but it is very popular.
the number of convenience stores is good indicator of business area , because the more convenience store, the more office and entertainment places normally.
Top 10 Neighborhoods which has largest number of convenience stores
| Neighborhood | N of convenience store |
|---|---|
| 大阪市都島区都島北通 | 12 |
| 大阪市都島区都島本通 | 10 |
| 大阪市都島区中野町 | 10 |
| 大阪市北区本庄東 | 9 |
| 大阪市北区大淀南 | 9 |
| 大阪市福島区玉川 | 9 |
| 大阪市北区天満橋 | 9 |
| 大阪市都島区善源寺町 | 8 |
| 大阪市北区大淀中 | 8 |
| 大阪市北区長柄西 | 8 |
Too many restaurant related category in forsqure are reduced to 2. One is ‘Izakaya’, where mainly open dinner time and alcohol and people enjoy time with colleagues or friends over food and alcohol. The other is ‘Fastfood’ style, like hamburger or ramen, where people don’t stay long time but just eat for lunch break or after work.
After re-label category, there are 337 ‘Izakaya’ style restaurants, which is almost double of convenience store’s number. I assumed that the business area has more convenience stores and more fast food. I simply check the trend of restaurant vs convenience store’s number below.
| Neighborhood | count |
|---|---|
| 大阪市北区菅原町 | 8 |
| 大阪市北区天神西町 | 8 |
| 大阪市中央区北浜 | 8 |
| 大阪市中央区今橋 | 7 |
| 大阪市北区中崎 | 7 |
| 大阪市北区浮田 | 7 |
| 大阪市北区西天満 | 6 |
| 大阪市中央区博労町 | 6 |
| 大阪市中央区備後町 | 6 |
| 大阪市北区茶屋町 | 6 |
| 大阪市北区鶴野町 | 6 |
From the result of clustering, I assume that cluster with light green points is most business oriented and where we are targeting to open cafe.
This area contains 37 neighborhoods. Among them, we want to pick up neighborhoods which has less cafe.
| Neighborhood | Number of Cafe |
|---|---|
| 北区芝田,中央区西心斎橋,中央区宗右衛門町,中央区心斎橋筋 ,中央区東心斎橋 | 2 |
| 中央区石町,北区中之島,中央区北久宝寺町 ,北区万歳町 ,中央区高麗橋,中央区高津 ,中央区道頓堀,中央区道修町,中央区本町橋 | 3 |
| 北区天満,中央区船場中央 ,中央区久太郎町 ,中央区安土町 ,中央区天満橋京町,中央区伏見町,中央区南本町 ,央区南久宝寺町 ,中央区東高麗橋 | 4 |
| 中央区淡路町,中央区南船場,北区大深町,北区中崎西 | 5 |
| 北区茶屋町,中央区備後町,中央区博労町,北区西天満,北区鶴野町 | 6 |
| 北区浮田 ,中央区今橋 | 7 |
| 北区天神西町 ,北区菅原町 ,中央区北浜 | 8 |